Saturday, October 30, 2010

Well, we're back from our amazing RV trip out west - and have spent the last few days enjoying the luxury of flush toilets and hot showers, and recovering from jetlag and sickness (tip: don't drink the water!). I'm not sure how I'll begin to write about such an amazing experience - or how I'll ever sort through all the photos. Right now half the pictures are on Sarah's camera, so I'll wait to get them all in one place before sharing.
Since we'd been out west for most of the month of October, I wanted to spend this weekend squeezing in some activities to enjoy the fall weather we get here in the east. We hit up Lawyers Winterbrook Farm in Thurmont, Maryland so I could cross #50 off my Life List: Visit a corn maze. We also got to shoot a PUMPKIN CANNON, which wasn't on my Life List, but should've been.
The corn maze was cut into the shape of Ironman, which would be cool except that you can't view the maze from above so you really have no sense of what shape the maze is when you're walking through it. Also? We sucked at the corn maze. We only found two checkpoints and ended up coming out the way we went in.

How do we get out of here?
No seriously. Get us out of here!
When we finally did get out of there, we rewarded ourselves for our poor performance with some kettle corn.
Then it was time to shoot the pumpkin cannon!
These were the targets. Awesome!
Larry gathers his ammunition:
BLAM!
Then it was my turn to shoot.
That was fun! (Also, my big pumpkin head = the perfect Halloween accessory!)
We both missed though. To celebrate? A corn dog, of course!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Had to head back to Denver a day early due to the ingestion of contaminated water. Let's just say that our RV has now been renamed Ralph. At least it was a pretty drive - and there was snow on the mountains.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Sunday, October 10, 2010

A year ago today, we walked into PetSmart with one dog and walked out with two.

What were we thinking?

Honestly, we had it so good with our greyhound, Gravy - who we had adopted 51 weeks earlier. Gravy was the perfect dog - calm, relaxed, laid-back, easily trained - he was about the most chill and easy dog anyone could ask for. He never had accidents. He didn't bark. He took everything in stride. Easy.

Then we brought a coonhound into our lives. He had long floppy ears and puppy dog eyes. He had been a stray, in an animal shelter, on death row, rescued, adopted, returned, and was living in a rescue kennel at Lost Dog. He came from Georgia. We think he was a failed hunting dog. His name was Pablo, but we renamed him Banjo.(Banjo's mug shot from Spalding County Animal Control in Griffin, Georgia - a high kill shelter. I recommend not googling that - I just looked at their website and nearly burst into tears at all the "This animal will be no longer available after..." dates under each dog. Also, notice that Banjo was lying next to a GIANT bowl of kibble and not eating it! These days, that whole bowl of kibble would be scarfed down in about 2 seconds flat.)
Banjo barked.
He pooped in his crate. Every day.
He dug holes in the yard.
And in the carpet.
He ate our wall.
He tried to eat our vet.

What WERE we thinking?
For the first six months, I'm ashamed to admit, we considered returning him. We had it so good - the three of us - Larry, me, and Gravy, and then we messed it up.
But then we stopped putting Banjo in the crate. He stopped pooping in the house. He had a horrible ear infection. We got it treated and his personality changed. He became affectionate. He's a loyal (and fierce) protector of his family. He hates the mailman. He loves belly rubs and chewing on sticks...
really big sticks...He groans with pleasure when he settles into his bed at night. He's 100% all dog and all boy - and unapologetic about it. He makes us laugh. He thinks someone should be petting him at all times. He's a momma's boy. His tail never stops wagging. He loves it here.
I'm glad we stuck it out. Happy one year, buddy!